Dolphins QB Malik Willis Called Out Before Bengals Game: “Not Nearly Good Enough”
· Yahoo Sports
On Sunday, the Miami Dolphins will search for their first win of the season as they take on the 2-2 Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium.
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Additionally, Miami will look to have their first game this season where they score more than one touchdown. After four weeks, the Dolphins are 32nd in the NFL in points per game and are the only team in the league that has not held a lead at any point this season.
While the team is confident that they are improving and trending in the right direction, at some points, results will have to come if the team wants to stay the course. The best-case scenario for the Dolphins would be that quarterback Malik Willis begins to lead Miami’s offense to respectable results and earns his role as the team’s starting quarterback in 2027. Otherwise, that would leave Miami with a need at the quarterback position while still owing Willis over $21 million in guaranteed money in 2027.
The Dolphins would likely prefer to have enough evidence to build around Willis, and use what will likely be a top pick in the 2027 NFL Draft on a complementary piece instead of taking a gamble on a quarterback. Unfortunately, after four games, one Dolphins analyst does not believe Willis has been good enough.
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Malik Willis Called Out Before Bengals Game
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The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson wrote of Willis after his first four starts with the Miami Dolphins: “The first four games of Malik Willis’ audition to become the Dolphins franchise quarterback can be summed up thusly: Not nearly good enough — and yet, during fleeting moments, tantalizing enough to not totally rule out the possibility that he could become one.
There have been moments, some snapshots, where you see the dynamic arm strength, or the escapability, or the high-end athleticism, or the ability to throw on the run — NFL-specific skills that make you resistant to give up totally on the hope of Willis becoming a franchise quarterback.”
Jackson added: “You can’t determine anything definitively after four games, particularly when several of the players around Willis are underperforming or simply not good enough. But we’re still waiting for the game where the Dolphins have reason to emerge saying “we have our guy!” Or at least “I think we do.” A month in, that game hasn’t happened.”
Dolphins vs. Bengals
Perhaps the game that Jackson is looking for can happen against the Cincinnati Bengals. While the Bengals had one of the worst defenses during the 2025 NFL season, that appears to have changed this season as Week 5’s game won’t be an easy task for Miami’s offense. In particular, the Bengals beefed up their defensive line as they traded for three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, and also added talented players such as Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen.
Regarding Cincinnati’s talented defensive line, Willis said: “They’re just a relentless front. They work hard. They have some moves. I try not to get too detailed into that when I’m talking on here, but they do a great job. They added Dexter Lawrence, a big time guy. We played him last year in Green Bay. We just got to… I trust our guys and we just got to continue to work hard to attack the plan that we have and do what we can to execute it when the time comes.”
Willis appears confident in Miami’s ability to execute. So far through four weeks, they have been unable to do so.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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